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*JIMIN*

He scrolled through his aunt’s photos on his phone, tears streaming down his face.

They say pain comes and goes. It fades away with time and it’s been replaced with something else; healing.

Life is like a journey… you walk through the path, not knowing exactly where the path might lead you to.

But what of that path leads you to your doom?

Or what if it leads to no where and you have no other option than to start all over again?

He was just a little boy with the life every kid wants; a father as a king, a mother as a queen, maids at his beck ‘n’ call, cars, riches…everything.

He thought he was perfect.

He thought fate was been kind to him.

He thought there’s no other thing left for him to wish for.

He thought he was saved.

He was wrong.

Come on, he was just eight years old… he haven’t started his journey. He was still following someone else’s lead but what happens when that person dies and there’s no one left to lead his path… he will be lost.

And that’s what going on now… he’s lost.

Lost inside of him.

Lost and yet afraid to be found.

Fate wasn’t kind to him, it just gave him a privilege to enjoy that life while growing up.

Actually, it was rather cruel to him.

Maybe if he never enjoyed those privileges as a kid, everything would have been different. He would have been different.

Jimin sniffed, his fingertips were stroking his aunt’s face softly, as more tears spilled out of his eyes.

He wished he had saw his aunt’s face before she died.

He wished he had at least apologize to her for everything he’d said that night.

He wished he had bade her goodbye.

Honestly he will choose to be blind and still have his aunt around than to see and not have his precious aunt around.

He miss her.

His gaze slowly darted to the card seated beside him.

He have to continue from where his aunt stopped.

He have to investigate and find those fucking psychopath that clashed into his life and made it worthless!

He won’t be the blind, clueless prince he was born have always been… he will be someone different.

Different from what they expected.

He grabbed the card and dialed the number on it, he pulled the phone against his ear and waited for it to be answered.

During the fourth ring, it was finally answered.

“Hello, I’ve been expecting your call.” He said through the other line.

Jimin knitted his brows in confusion and stared down at the number he just dialled, who knows maybe he had made a mistake but there was no mistake.

He bring the phone back to his ear. “This is Jimin.” He said, just in case he might have mistaken him for someone else.

“I know.” He said.

Oh, he knows.

“How did you know?” He find himself asking.

“Well, I gave two people my card. You and someone else. I know that someone else wasn’t going to call me, yet but you.”

“Oh.” That was all he could say.

“So, why are you calling?” He asked. Jimin could tell he was driving due to the honk and stuff he was hearing.

“Can you come over to the hospital?” Ge asked.

He didn’t say anything for a while but then finally said. “Sure.”

****

“Hi.” He waved, smiling at him.

“Hi.” He returned back his smile with a smile of his own.

“Seat.” He offered.

Namjoon look around them to see that there was a bed, two couch, a table and other things found in the hospital _clearly this was a VIP ward_

“Thanks.” Namjoon said, as he sat down on one of the couch. Jimin walked up to him and took the other vacant seat. “You finally want my help, huh?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Listen, I never wanted to give you a call and ask you to assist me in finding my aunt’s murderer and parents’ but…I know very well that I can’t do it on my own. I will need a detective to assist me and clearly you made yourself available.” He said.

“So?”

“So what I’m trying to say is, I need you to investigate about what or who really killed my aunt and my parents. I will pay you as much as you want for the job.”

“Okay?” He sounded unsure.

“Do you still want to help me?” He asked him.

“Of course but… I’m confused, what made you change your mind?”

“Since you’ve expecting my call then I think you should know what made me changed my mind.” He shrugged.

He smirked. “Probably because I’m the detective here.”

“Obviously.” He said rudely. “Have you help that person?” Jimin asked after a minute of silence.

“What?”

“That person you said I reminded you of… have you help him or her?” He asked again.

He slowly shook his head. “Not yet. It’s quite a difficult case. And yours might be just like that.” He paused. “Well, this person isn’t just a client but also my best friend.”

“Oh. So have he find answers yet?”

“He? what make you think it’s a he?”

“Well, obviously.”

“You think I can’t keep a ‘she’ as my best friend?”

“Then is it a she?”

“No?”

“Exactly my point!”

Namjoon smirked, running his fingers through his hair. “Funny.” He sighed. “Listen for us to work together in this investigation, then you have to be truthful to me… and yourself.” He said.

“What do you mean?” Jimin asked, clearly confused.

“You need to tell me everything that happened that night. Especially what you saw.”

Jimin did not say anything for a long while. He just kept mute, staring at Namjoon. But after a while, he finally spoke. “What if I didn’t see anything?”

“You should have seen something.” He reasoned.

“I didn’t.”

“Why not?”

“I was blind, okay! Clearly a blind guy wouldn’t be able to see any damn thing!” he lashed out on him, surprising him in the process.

“I’m… I’m sorry.” He apologized.

“Don’t pity me.” He said coldly, turning his face away from him.

“I’m not. I just… I don’t know.”

“You just can’t believe that once a blind guy can see now? Trust me, I get it.”

“I never said that.”

“You don’t have to.”

Namjoon let out a breath of frustration, running his fingers through his hair. “I know you don’t like me but hey, we have to work together to capture this killer and if we keep acting this way…we won’t get anywhere.”

He was right.

Why was he even acting this cold and mean towards this innocent detective? It’s not like he was the one who killed his aunt or something.

Besides he was only just trying to help him here.

Jimin tucked a strand of hair from his face and put it behind his ear, turning to look at Namjoon. “I’m sorry.” He apologized.

Namjoon raised a questioning brow at him. “Did you just apologized?” He joked in attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

He chuckles. “Hey, I’m not always like this, okay? I’m just…”

“Frustrated?”

He shrugged. “Something like that.” He sighed. “You said if we have to work together then I have to be truthful to myself and to you as well, right?” Namjoon nodded his head, ‘yes.’ “Then you should also do the same.” He paused. “You have to report to me about everything relating to this investigation and you can also ask me any question, okay?”

“Sure.” He smiled. “So,” He took out a pen and a small jotter from his pocket.

“Do you also go out with that?”

“I’m a detective, okay? I need to take down some note when necessary.” He playfully justified himself, smiling.

Jimin smiled as well. “Of course.”

“Back to business… Why do you think your aunt was murdered? Did someone threatened to kill her? Or did she tell you anything that might have sounded suspicious?”

Jimin thought for a while. “My aunt never told me anything. All she ever did was to make sure I was safe. There was a time when I asked her to run the kingdom for me until I regain my sight… she accepted but during the coronation, she started acting strange. She even postponed the fixed date of the coronation to another day…” Jimin paused. “I felt something strange. She was hiding something from me but I don’t know what that is.
One day, she came into my room and thought I was asleep, she said something that morning,” He kept mute for a while as if trying to remember what his aunt said. “ She said, ‘If anything happens to me, don’t blame yourself or hate your self or see yourself as a cursed prince. But rather be strong, be happy and find the murderer who murdered your parents and bring justice to them. And make sure you don’t trust anyone, not even me. If you need any clue about anything, go to the heart of the palace.’ Those were her words.” Jimin explained with a sigh.

“She asked you not to trust her?” Namjoon asked.

“Yes.”

“And not to trust anyone…” He knitted his brows, while processing everything Jimin had just told him. “how did you parents died?”

“They died in a car accident. No one knows what caused the accident.” He replied.

“But your aunt thinks it’s murder. That means someone planned the accident.” He reasoned out. “Does this mean your aunt knows who killed your parents?”

“It’s not possible, because if she really does then he would have said something.” Jimin reasoned out.

“You are right but what if she couldn’t. Or let say, she never wanted to.”

“And why wouldn’t she?”

“Probably because there is something she’s hiding from everyone. Come on, she knew she was going to die which only means one thing, this murderer must have threatened to kill her and maybe because she’s getting somewhere with the investigation…. There’s a probability that the murderer who killed your parents is the same person who killed your aunt.” He paused. “But why didn’t she tell you anything?” He said in a whisper. “Was it really to protect you? Or to protect something else?”

“Listen, I don’t know who this murderer is, but maybe if I wasn’t blind, I would have seen them.”

“How?”

“He or she hit my head after killing my aunt!” He pointed out.

“When did you aunt died?” Namjoon asked.

“Probably in the middle of the night? I don’t know, okay?”

“When did you go to her room?”

“The following morning. I heard a scream.” He explained.

“Do you know what she meant by the ‘the clue is in heart of the palace’?” He asked after a minute of silence.

“No. But doctor Woong should know something.”

“Doctor Woong?” Namjoon questioned.

“Yes. The doctor of this hospital.” He sighed. “And when I asked him, he said my aunt specifically told him not to tell me anything until I find my missing self. Don’t ask me what that means because I don’t know.” He quickly added the last statement.

“Doctor Woong….again.” He muttered under his breath, twirling the pen round his fingers. “Have you ever had any encounter with a stranger?”

“None that I can remember of.”

Namjoon stood up to his feet. “I will like to go to the crime scene. Hope it is still restricted for entry?”

“Yeah. Lisa will take you to the crime scene.” Jimin told him. “Hey,” He called him just when he turned around to leave. “I’m counting on you for this investigation.” He said to him.

_

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*NAMJOON*,

Namjoon stared down at the chalked spot of where Jimin's aunt had died. He stared at the open window then walked up to it and stared down at the height of the window _no one can climb this window_ unless the person is a tree climbing expert.

He stared at the huge tree that was very close to Jimin aunt’s window.

“How come was the victim killed in the middle of the night and Jimin’s head was hit the next morning?” He asked himself, trying to find the missing puzzle. “Could it be that the person who killed the victim is different from the person who hit him head? But then again, who screamed?”

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TBC